Global Advisory Board

Neha heads Digital Channels for Private Banking clients at Bank of Singapore. She oversees product strategy and roadmap, defining client journeys and driving adoption of the bank’s digital channels. Under her leadership, BOS digital channel adopting grew exponentially with significant improvements in Client satisfaction score and won multiple industry leading awards.  Neha’s prior experience includes establishing Innovation Lab for BNP Paribas Wealth Management in Asia and co-creation of  products with clients & fintech’s.

Victor heads Citi Ventures’ Programs and Strategic Partnerships across APAC. His focus is on developing the infrastructure, networks and talent necessary for the continuous origination of impactful ideas and experiments that have the potential to transform the financial industry.

Victor is a seasoned entrepreneur, global citizen, and systems thinker focused on business model innovation and advanced decision automation. He has over a decade of experience in building and scaling technology ventures across the globe.

Brijesh Ammanath is the Global CIO for Trade and Working Capital Technology team spread across Pune and Chennai in India, London, Birmingham and Radbroke in the UK. 
Prior to Trade and Working Capital, Brijesh has played technology leadership roles in Treasury, Legal, Product Control and Market Risk in Barclays. 

Brijesh has strong international work experience having worked for over a decade in London with Merrill Lynch and later with the merged entity BoAML where he was the Technology Delivery Lead for the FX Options business.

Brijesh comes from a strong technology background, which coupled with a keen interest in the business has allowed him to develop and deliver customer centric solutions.
Brijesh’s keen interest in the Trade business and in Operations has ensured that all the technology initiatives have TWC board level support and the team collaborates across functions to drive a successful delivery. Brijesh is able to finely balance implementing Innovation to deliver transformative solutions to the business and at the same time deal with legacy IT issues built up over many years of operation.

Brijesh is a globally experienced leader with an established track-record in enabling strategic and cultural change to deliver desired business outcomes.
 

Suvrat Bansal is President and Founder of Stellar Data Labs, an innovative data company helping clients in harnessing the power of data and analytics. Prior to forming Stellar Data Labs, Suvrat was the Chief Data Officer for UBS Asset Management, where he led the full suite of data and analytics capabilities from data management and governance to AI/ML and advanced analytics. Suvrat has 25 years of leadership experience in driving data and analytics strategies for global organizations.

Julia is an Adjunct Professor at the NYU Stern School of Business, CEO of Data4Real, LLC, a Board Advisor to several startups and Chair of Technology Advisory Council of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WLDA). 

She is a recognized thought leader in data driven digital transformation with over 25 years of experience in building technology and business capabilities that enable business growth, innovation, and agility. Julia has led transformational initiatives in many financial services companies such as Voya Financial, Deutsche Bank Citi, FINRA, Freddie Mac, and others. 

Julia is a much sought-after speaker and mentor in the industry, and she has received recognition across the industry for her significant contributions. She has been named to engatica 2023 list of World’s Top 200 Business and Technology Innovators; received 2022 WLDA Changemaker in AI award; has been named to CDO Magazine’s List of Global Data Power Women three years in the row; named Top 150 Business Transformation Leader by Constellation Research in 2019; and recognized as the Best Data Management Practitioner by A-Team Data Management Insight in 2017.

She holds a Master of Arts in Economics from New York University.   

Sumanda Basu is currently leading Data Quality and Controls for Société Générale Americas. He was previously responsible for data governance and data management technology. Before joining Socgen, Sumanda had several data and technology management leadership roles in JP Morgan Chase, Citi and HSBC.

Alexandre has 13 years’ experience in Banking mainly in Investment Banking Operation.

Curious & always open to learn new things, he has expertise in product & process digitalization, continuous improvement and product management.

In his new role he gets to challenge the status quo, foster innovation & build partnerships with the Fintech ecosystem.

He recently launched the Asian version of the Global Market Incubator for Societe Generale in APAC.

He spent most of his career in Hong Kong in Operations. He relocated to Singapore in 2020 and is now the Innovation Lead for APAC, driving Open Innovation Initiatives for the group in the region.

John Bottega is a senior data management strategist and executive with over 40 years of experience in the finance industry. Over his career, John has held various roles in supporting an organization’s data strategy and data implementation objectives. In 2006, John became one of the first Chief Data Officers in finance with his appointment as CDO at Citibank. He went on to hold the role of CDO in both the public and private sectors, serving as CDO for Bank of America, and holding the post of CDO for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

As the former Chief Data Officer at Bank of America, John was responsible for driving the enterprise data management strategy. This included championing the data management policy and standards, establishing and operationalizing data governance, working with technology to define the data platform, infrastructure and tool simplification, and supporting the bank's data scientist team in their efforts to drive improved information analytics.

As the Chief Data Officer for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY), John worked with domestic and foreign regulators on financial sector data management and data quality. While at FRBNY, John led the effort to define and establish the LEI (Legal Entity Identifier), a global information standard for unique entity identification, key to enabling and strengthening systemic risk analysis in support of global financial stability. John also served as a Senior Advisor to the Director of the Office of Financial Research (OFR), an agency established by the Dodd-Frank Act within the US Department of the Treasury, responsible for the analysis and monitoring of industry-wide systemic risk.

Today, John is the President of the EDM Council, a non-profit professional trade association, focused on elevating the practice of data management through best practices, data standards, research and education. The EDM Council supports over 250 organizations comprised of over 10,000 members, helping them successfully advance their data programs within their firms, while creating a global network for data management community collaboration.

John has been a frequent speaker for over 20 years at industry conferences and industry symposiums. He is a former member of the US Department of the Treasury, Financial Research Advisory Committee to the Office of Financial Research; a current member of the Data Coalition Financial Transparency Act Task Force; Data Coalition Open Data Standards Task Force; CPA-Canada Data Governance Committee; WatersTechnology Advisory Board member; member of the Advisory Board of NewVantage Partners, and member of the Board of Directors of ACTUS, a non-profit association focused on the improvement of systemic risk monitoring and financial market transparency.

Lionel Bruchez is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Singapore and deputy CISO APAC, covering regulatory and governmental engagements across Asia Pacific and the cybersecurity program, capabilities and cyber defense for 25,000 staff members in Asia across 13 countries. In addition, Lionel is key committee member of the global Cyber Threat Management board and the strategy and governance lead for the bank’s Cyber Threat Intelligence service.

In his role, Lionel focuses on generating a business context for the cyberdefense capabilities and providing strategic and tactical awareness to the key decision makers. The wide array of issues he pursues include Geopolitical Analysis, Threat Intelligence, Threat Modeling, Security Monitoring, Security Reporting and Analytics, Compliance Monitoring, Cryptography, Signal Processing or System Security. 

An energetic Business and Technology leader with an extensive background in the financial services industry, I have been fortunate enough to work in Australia, North America and Asia.

My consulting experience has allowed me the opportunity to experience different industry sectors including Financial Services, Real Assets (Commercial Property, Utilities), Aircraft Leasing, Oil and Gas and Mining.

I have demonstrated success in developing and delivering IT and Business Strategy by building strong relationships with senior business leaders and stakeholders. I am a people leader with experience in developing and leading highly capable and commercially focused cross-functional teams on a global basis.

Dominic has 17+ years of experience in banking spanning Sales & Trading technology, Operations, Consulting, Risk Management & Governance. Dominic is responsible for Cybersecurity governance and compliance at Mox Bank owned by Standard Chartered Bank. Prior to joining Mox, he was an Electronic Trading risk management specialist at Morgan Stanley.

His knowledge in navigating the regulatory landscape in APAC and a ‘can do’ attitude has made him successful in his career as a veteran in the risk management domain.

Leadership that drives business growth | Aspiring writer | Speaker | BAI Global Innovation awards Jury | Fin-tech & Design thinking influencer

I am a leader with a proven track record of successful businesses. I am also a very keen student, influencer and practitioner of financial services in Asia and Africa and have been fortunate enough to spend over 25 years working on both these continents. I want financial services to work harder for the customers and communities we serve.

Financial services must drive better outcomes for customers. I believe that Design thinking can create superior financial products and services. I believe we can design really great financial products and services using design thinking, analytics and technology.

Superior EXECUTION, along with the benefits of a customer led approach, enabled by technology can help build really successful customer propositions and profitable models. My career has been shaped by my early days at Citibank and then the transformation work at Shinsei Bank

Prior to TD Ameritrade Ed was a Vice President at Morgan Stanley and was responsible for managing global exchange relationships and sourcing for exchange data use across the Morgan Stanley enterprise.

Ed founded The Flynndex Company in 2011 to provide market data training and consulting services. Ed developed training classes to support the FISD Financial Information Associate Professional Certification program

and collaborated with the eLearning firm "Finance Modules" to produce online market data training for the FISD FIA Certification.

Ed began his career with Interactive Data and Moody's Investors Service, then joined Fidelity Investments managing market data and investment research for the Fidelity Funds and the Fidelity enterprise.

Ed has an MBA from Babson College, a BS from the University of Vermont, is a member of the CTA Advisory Committee, the SIFMA Market Data Subcommittee and the FISD Executive Committee.

Andrew Foster, C.F.A., is the Chief Data Officer at M&T Bank. As CDO, he leads data strategy and governance, as well as the development and delivery of platforms, tools, and methodologies to enable M&T to harness the full potential of its data to continuously meet the evolving needs of customers and communities. He also partners with multidisciplinary teams across the organization to drive data-driven outcomes to support customer experience, business resilience, performance optimization, and growth.   

Foster brings over 20 years of experience leading data, automation, and innovation organizations in the financial services industry, most recently as Deputy Chief Data Officer (Americas) and Head of Data Governance at Deutsche Bank in New York. He previously held leadership positions at Europe Arab Bank (EAB) PLC and Arab Bank PLC, both in London.  

Committed to pursuing greater inclusion in the fields of data and technology, Foster has consistently advocated for women in data management, serving in volunteer leadership and outreach roles for Women Data Professionals, the gender diversity arm of EDM Council, a leading global trade association for data and analytics management.  

A native of South Africa whose career has taken him through London and New York, Foster works at M&T Bank’s Tech Hub at Seneca One in Buffalo, New York. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Science, specializing in Finance, from the University of Cape Town in South Africa and has participated in executive leadership programs through the London Business School. 

Ellen Gentile has over 20 years of experience in the financial services sector and has worked in various capacities for companies such as Cowan & Company, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Banc of America Securities and Pershing, LLC. 

Prior to managing SMBC's data quality, Ellen championed the use of qualified data as a core enterprise resource supporting decision makers. To best deliver and monitor quality of service and information, Ellen established and set enterprise standards through operational quality scorecard products at Pershing, LLC. The quality based products she managed provided the much needed insight and transparency clients require to manage and grow their businesses.

Dessa advises clients in the areas of data, analytics and risk. She has a 25-year proven track record successfully designing and executing global innovative solutions, often influencing a Board or Operating Committee. She built the Chief Data Office for JPMorgan Chase Asset Management, serving as the first CDO, and initiated the Capital Stress Testing Analytics team for JPMorgan Chase. She was Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Research (US Treasury), responsible for data, international standards (including the Legal Entity Identifier, LEI), analytics and technology and building the Office. As the first CRO, she launched the Chief Risk Office for Bunge. Dessa has held senior positions at Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch, IBM and KPMG. She began her career teaching finance at Rutgers University. Dessa has a Ph. D. and MA in Economics from Fordham University and serves on the advisory Board of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She has a BS in Business from Fairleigh Dickinson University and was co-president of the Women's Bond Club of NY.

Sameer is the Group Chief Analytics Officer at DBS. He is responsible for driving analytics transformations across DBS, and has been leading the design and execution of the bank’s AI and data evolution for over 7 years.

Before joining DBS, he has worked at IBM, Standard Chartered Bank and GE Capital, in various roles across Asia and Europe. During this time, he led large scale transformation initiatives in areas such as customer centricity, new product introduction, process reengineering, lean six sigma, acquisition integration, analytics and outsourcing.

Sameer holds a MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta India and is a GE certified Six Sigma Black Belt.

Laura Hamilton is Managing Director, Global Head of Corporate Treasury Technology and Financial Forecasting Technology at Bank of America. Prior to joining the bank in 2017, Laura was the Chief Information Officer for Enterprise Stress Testing Technology, Global head of Compliance Technology, America’s Head of Risk Technology at Deutsche Bank. Laura spent twenty years in various roles across J.P. Morgan where she was Chief Technology Officer delivering global enterprise business initiatives and industry-leading technology programs within Corporate and Investment Banking (Global Markets). Other experiences include the launch of technology innovations for eCommerce platforms for brands such as Nike, Estee Lauder and Best Buy.

Laura has extensive experience setting technology strategy and delivering business value through innovative and cost effective technology across various roles including: Line of Business IT Development, IT Infrastructure, Risk & Control, Chief Data Office/Data Architecture, Financial Crime Compliance, Technical Architecture, Regulatory Reporting, Corporate Treasury (Capital, Liquidity, Funding, Market Access). Laura’s experience spans Lines of Business including Global Markets, Commercial/Business Banking, Wealth Management, and Consumer Retail. Laura evaluates emerging technology and design principles with an entrepreneurial spirit along with a mindset of controls, ongoing sustainability and reusability. Laura has successfully implemented programs leveraging Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics/Process Automation, Public Cloud, and Advanced Data Analytics. She has a proven track record for delivering collaboratively with Agile and Lean principles to focus on the highest business value. Multiple Patent applications.

Laura is a passionate technologist who enjoys helping individuals develop professionally in their careers, especially women in technical and applied STEM roles.

Kerr Hatrick now heads execution consultancy at Goldman Sachs. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Kerr Hatrick was the Senior Algorithmic Strategist at Morgan Stanley Asia. He joined the firm in 2013 and runs the Morgan Stanley Execution Services Strategist group in Asia. His research is currently focused on intraday trading patterns and price formation in equities and futures; he has constructed and managed significant equity portfolios, and his software has won a number of external awards. He is familiar with the full spectrum of equity products, having started work in risk management and derivative pricing, and has worked as quantitative strategist for both Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. He received his Ph.D. from University College London.

Memo is the MD of Group Cyber delivery and transformation accountable for the roll out of all security technology across the Bank.  Prior to this, Memo was the CIO of Global Markets and Institutional Bank internationally for CBA, running a large team across Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, London, New York, Malta and Amsterdam.  Leading technology teams for both run and change supporting: FX, Derivatives, Fixed Income, Commodities, Institutional Lending, Credit, securitisation, and Trade finance businesses.

She has unique skills that span across all aspects of technology with strong delivery of large complex transformations, IT operational excellence, driving innovation and digitisation leveraging latest technologies, data, IT and business operating models to differentiate and position organisations for future profitable growth.  This is combined with extensive Information Technology, Strategy, Leadership, Corporate, Institutional Banking and Financial Markets expertise.

An experienced C-suite executive, Memo has significant exposure working alongside other C-suite focussing on strategic direction and operation of organisation.  She has experience working globally in London and New York at Credit Suisse, and multiple leading financial institutions in Australia including Westpac, NAB, Macquarie Bank, BNP Paribas and consulting.  She has lead initiatives for digitisation and focused on emerging IT models and technologies such as decentralised services and platforms, software as a service models, agile delivery models,  “pay per use” technology, multi-tenant models, building of Lego style architecture and creating strategic partnerships with technology organisations globally.

She comes from a strong technology background of engineering, architecture coupled with formal education in business, finance and leadership.  She has a keen interest in leveraging unique and innovative technologies to solve complex business problems for growth and differentiation.  Draws executive management insights from uniting teams in complex markets, through diverse cultures and market research to add unique value as a CIO.

Worldwide digital technology executive with 20 years' experience leading multiple successful digital innovation and execution with large multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams in global corporations.  Mr. Ho currently works in AXA Hong Kong & Macau as the Chief Technology Officer with full responsibility for IT including strategy, architecture, transformation, delivery, operations & cybersecurity.  Before joining AXA, Mr. Ho worked in various IT leadership role from AIA, Sun Life, IBM and Accenture.  Before working in Insurance industry, Mr. Ho is the trusted management consultant / lead architect stationed in APAC & EMEA countries for various digital and cloud transformation projects from strategy to execution in financial services sector.  Mr. Ho holds an MBA degree from University of Iowa – Henry B. Tippie School of Management in US.  He is also a TOGAF Certified Enterprise Architect, IBM Certified Senior IT Architect - API Integration Specialization, IBM Certified Cloud Solution Advisor and Microsoft Certified Azure Cloud Specialist.

A proven leader, strategist and skilled information technology practitioner with over 18 years of experience within banking technology, Anthony has demonstrated the ability to find technological answers to complex business problems whilst balancing commercial acumen. He is both highly motivated and results driven with a track record of strategic planning, risk management, building highly engaged teams and leading both people and technology transformation initiatives. He is currently the head of cloud governance and regulatory compliance.

Spent 22 years in US bank worked in corporate and retail banking. In 2001, moved to Compliance which the 9.11 happened and coincidently took step into AML/CTF world. Moved to HSBC to establish AML team in there. AML stands for All My Life to me.

PacificBridge Capital is a globally-networked private markets investment firm focused on creating value add partnerships with both companies and investors. By identifying compelling themes across uniquely positioned industries, we develop and provide asset management and operational expertise to our partners.

Experienced Veteran

• Experience with tech giants (IBM & Lenovo) and tech start-ups
•  Previous role as IBM Blockchain Consultant

Start-up Venturer

• Start-up team member in HK, China, Silicon Valley
• Venture capitalist in Silicon Valley
• Mentor of HK Cyberport and HK Science & Technology Park

China Connected

• Assignments in Beijing & Shenzhen for more than 10 years
• Led teams and managed businesses in China

Sandra has over 10 years of experience across cyber security, data protection, governance, risk, compliance and quality assurance in APAC and Europe. 

She is currently leading the APAC Data Security and Confidentiality Team in Credit Suisse that focuses on managing the divisional deployment of global initiatives related to data protection, data risk governance and implementation of the data protection strategy and delivery roadmap for Wealth Management. Before joining Credit Suisse, Sandra worked for Deutsche Bank, where she was APAC Data Leakage Protection Head. While there, Sandra worked on a data loss detection and monitoring program, controls implementation and awareness. She demonstrates a profound expertise in establishing and implementing DLP controls, process optimisation, risk reduction and management. She successfully implemented DLP detective monitoring in 13 APAC, 4 AMER and 25 EMEA countries. Prior to this, she worked at UBS and PwC as a Subject Matter Expert where she was responsible for compliance process implementation, audit/regulatory remediation and process transition.

Sandra is a hands-on executive, working alongside the C-suite in areas including cyber security, regulatory requirements, business expectations, strategy and governance to achieve the best results. She leads and develops cross-cultural and high-performing teams, driving vision, establishing actionable solutions, achieving operational goals, and maximizing organizational objectives.

Patrick is the former Chief Information Security Officer of Tencent’s Digital Bank in HK - Fusion Bank. He leads the team with the mission to build a secure and 100% digital bank with financial inclusion in DNA. He oversees and governs the implementation of the bank-wide information risk roadmap with a particular focus on IT regulatory compliance. Prior to joining Fusion Bank, Patrick was Deputy CISO for DBS Bank HK to look after cyber security management, incident response, data security and dealing with regulatory assessment. Patrick has held various key positions in IT security, technology risk management and audit across Asia and Europe. 

He has over 20 years of IT and Security experience including security operation, risk and control and IT audit within top tier financial institutions. As an experienced security practitioner, Patrick has been responsible for performing and managing a wide range of security consulting, risk and threat assessment, security training, cyber crisis management planning program. His contribution to the industry was well recognized. He earned multiple awards:

• Hong Kong Police Force: Hong Kong Cyber Security Professionals Awards in 2017
• ISC2: ISLA Asia-Pacific Honoree Senior Information Security Professional category 2018
• Hong Kong Business Magazine: Banking Executive of the Year in 2021
• IDG: ASEAN CSO30 in 2021
• UK Cyber Security Awards: Highly Commended CISO of the Year in 2021

Patrick is a certified information system security professional (CISSP), Information Systems Security Architecture Professional (ISSAP), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and Associate Business Continuity Professional (ABCP).

Arun Mehta has 22+ years of high impact transformative data-centric architecture and engineering leadership experience, operating globally across financial, telecoms, shipping and logistics domains. He is currently the Head of Data & Analytics Engineering in NatWest Group.

He has owned and executed digital strategy right through to architecture roadmap creation and value delivery for data driven topics such as Digitalization, Data Science, Cloud adoption, Machine Learning, Big Data, Predictive Analytics / AI. He has been fully responsible for global Data transformation agenda operating at C-level equivalent for conceiving the investment budgeting advising CxO level and in line with CEO priorities, formulating business cases.

He is a thought leader in the Data & Analytics/ Cloud field acting as guest faculty at international universities and keynote speaker in global conferences. He has strategized and delivered value initiatives keeping right shoring and cost leadership in mind. He is a core member of NASSCOM BFSI Strategy Innovation Group (SIG) for accelerating industry level innovation. Key is a key member of the India leadership group and regional head of Innovation stream responsible for scouting and bringing / investing into FinTech’s of strategic importance to the Organization.

Arun holds AFRM from IIM-Bangalore and holds Masters in Finance (MBA) and Computer Application (MCA). He also holds international certifications in various technologies like AWS, Oracle, Microsoft and Teradata.

Karla McKenna is an international standards specialist in the area of financial services. Ms. McKenna is the Head of Standards for the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) for which she is responsible for facilitating the development and implementation of GLEIF standards and leveraging international standards from organizations such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to maximize data quality and the operational integrity of the Global LEI System. Ms. McKenna chaired the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 68 (ISO/TC 68), Financial services, from 2006 to 2018 and continues work with the committee in the areas of standards interoperability, regulatory use of international standards and best practices for financial services standards. Ms. McKenna currently serves on the Board of XBRL International and is a member of the inaugural Board of the Eurofiling Foundation. Ms. McKenna is Immediate Past Chair of the Securities Market Practice Group (SMPG) and also has served on the Board of the International Securities Association for Institutional Trade Communication (ISITC) and the Accredited Standards Committee X9 (ASC X9).

Nonna is Chief Data & Analytics Officer at RMIT University and is helping RMIT to improve the lives of students, staff and community through trusted insights. Through the development and implementation of Data & Analytics Strategy, Nonna is establishing data-driven culture and foundations for better decision-making to support learning, teaching and research and deliver innovative outcomes using data, ML and AI capabilities.

With wide range of industry experience in consulting, telecommunications, finance and IT, Nonna is an award winning Data and Analytics Champion. She is a thought leader in data quality and use of analytics to improve customer service and productivity of Australian businesses. Nonna partners with business stakeholders and IT to drive data strategy, develop enterprise Data Governance and deliver large, complex data and analytics related initiatives, significantly improving business bottom line. Nonna has been recognised by IAPA in the top 10 Analytics Leaders in Australia in 2021 and by Corinium in the top 100 Data and Analytics Innovators in the world in 2020. Nonna is a frequent presenter at Australian and International conferences and podcasts.

Yuya is a Senior Investment Officer/Head of Investment, Quantitative Active Equity at Nomura Asset Management(NAM). Currently he is heading the quantitative equity investment of NAM. As a quantitative portfolio manager, he has wide range of experience from financial theory driven factor investment to the utilization of AI and alternative data.

He is a CFA® charterholder.

Mr Nandakumar has two-decade-long experience in the IT sector with a professional background in Application & Infrastructure Engineering, Architecture, and Business Consultancy in the Financial Management sector. He is pursuing a Doctoral Scholar in Consumer Behavior – Psychological and Sociological impact with AI/ML. He holds certifications in Project Management, Lean Sigma, ITIL Masters, Certified AWS Cloud Solution Architecture, Statistical and Data Analytics. His overall service experience covers IT & Financial management consulting with exposure to varied domains within the Retail, Wealth, and Institutional Financial industry. Technology modernization, Delivery governance, Business Transformation, Cost Optimization, Merger and Acquisitions, Strategic Tools deployment, and in building/managing competency models and Event-driven architecture are his key areas of specialization. Mr Nandakumar’s current focus in his role as Technology Head, Asia Pacific, Westpac Institutional & Retail Banking, Asia-Pacific, drives a Customer-Centric technology program for transforming Institutional and Retail Banking experience.

Hartnell was the first Chief Data Officer in the East & Central Africa Region. His specialty is in the Banking and Financial Services sector where he has been able to master the development and execution of key Data & Digital Strategies for large financial institutions. He was previously a senior data consultant providing advisory and analytics services to governments, banks, insurance firms and Telco’s.  He has also led and set up data teams for top banks in the region.

He is currently the Chief Data Officer at Absa Kenya where he leads the Data Science, Data Governance, Business Intelligence and Analytics teams. With a deep understanding of Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation, Data Management, Business Intelligence, Machine Learning and Governance, he seeks to ensure that organizations are able to set up dynamic data teams, understand the data they hold, harness actionable insights and deliver key use cases encompassing profitability, operational efficiency, growth and transformation.

Hartnell holds a Master of Science in Analytics from Georgia Institute of Technology, an Executive Data Science specialization from Johns Hopkins University, a Bachelor in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Moi University and multiple certifications in Digital Transformation and Data Analytics.

Mr. Ohashi is a graduate of Tokyo University, later studied at Harvard Law School, and is an attorney at law from the New York State Bar. He started his career with the Bank of Japan where he was based in the Financial System Department. Following that he did a secondment as a Senior Economist at the IMF, before returning to the Bank of Japan as a Director of the Bank Supervision Department. He has subsequently held senior level positions within 3 other financial institutions before joining CLSA, Japan in 2018 as the Head of Compliance.

His publications include "Japan’s Distressed-Debt Market” (May 2004, IMF Working Paper), "A Case for Reforming the JGB Market” (July 1998, Bank of Japan Working Paper), "Experiences of Three Eastern European Countries During the Russian Crisis – An Analysis of “Contagion’” ( March 1999, Bank of Japan Working Paper)”.

Kirill Petropavlov is an experienced innovator at the cross section of Financial Services and advanced technologies in Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain. He has led and delivered key innovation projects in Open Banking, Blockchain for payments, Machine Learning powered digital automation and AI Driven data analytics for financial institutions and technology companies.

As Head of Data & Advanced Analytics, Amith leads the transformation of Mashreq Bank into a more Data-Driven organization. Straddling both business & technology, he manages the Data estate for the Bank, its modernization, and governance while seeking opportunities to monetize this data. He looks to break down silos within the Bank and create better customer experiences.

Transforming into a data-driven culture is about changing mindsets, ways of thinking, and ingrained practices. It is an evolutionary process that impacts all aspects of an organization. Leading a One Data & Analytics team in the Bank is at the core of this transformation.

In a 20+ year career, Amith has moved seamlessly between business and technology, multiple times all over the world. From Derivative Trading in India to Tech consulting in UK, UK & Germany to Chief of Staff and Data Analytics in Singapore, he has experienced the move from analog to increasingly digital business models and been in the front row seat driving AI/ML and Data Analytics before they became the buzz words of today.

Amith is passionate about data-driven decision-making with contextual, intelligent analytics available at the right time across multiple channels and he looks to embed the data-driven culture everywhere he goes. Keynote speaker and active panelist for industry events, Amith enthusiastically mentors fintech startups and students in Singapore & Dubai as he enjoys sharing his experience with people.

Amith has successfully completed an Engineering from Pune University India, a PGDM from SCMHRD
India and an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Barry has recently joined TickSmith Corp as its Head of Data Practice.  TickSmith is a cloud-based data and commerce platform that transforms data distribution and monetization, making it possible for companies to easily package data products and launch private marketplaces.  His role is to provide guidance to clients and prospects on the many aspects of data commercialization, such as licensing structure, to insure that TickSmith’s clients are successful in their new data businesses.

Prior to this position, he was the Managing Director of the Market Data Services practice for Jordan & Jordan (J&J), a New York-based consulting firm.  He has extensive expertise in market and reference data across the securities industry.   His in-depth market data experience and network relationships enable him to provide clients with a wide range of consultative services based on clients’ requirements.  Among his achievements at J&J, he led a global implementation initiative for a multi-faceted messaging system for a large investment bank.  Barry is the recipient of the 2017 FISD Lifetime Achievement Award.  

Before he joined J&J, Barry spent 28 years as the Managing Director of the Americas for SIX Financial Information and performed a similar role at GBST, a financial software firm.   Barry is a member of the Inside Market Data Hall of Fame and has been a frequent industry panelist and speaker at various venues across the globe.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University and an MBA in Finance from the University of Buffalo. 

He currently resides in Oceanside, California with his wife, Pamela, and they have two adult sons.  He enjoys golfing, biking and travel.

Dipak Sahoo is the Regional Head of Information Technology for Asia at Generali. He is responsible for designing and driving the implementation of Generali’s IT strategy in the region and identifying synergies between countries to improve the customer experience.

Dipak has over 22 years’ experience in the insurance sector. He spent most of his career with global insurance companies in senior leadership roles in the areas of technology, operations and transformation across APAC and Europe.

Prior to joining Generali, Dipak worked for Capgemini, a leading global consulting firm, where he played a significant role setting up their insurance practice across the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Dipak has also worked in technology leadership roles with global insurers like AXA and AIA in their country and regional operations.

Dipak started his career in India and over the last 12 years lived and worked in Hong Kong, Australia and Italy.

Yutaka Sakurai is data science and AI expert with a strong background in Financial theory and practice. After more than twenty years' experience of fund manager, trader and quant in Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and Sony Bank, he became a managing director of Research and Pricing Technology Inc.  in 2010. He started AI Finance Application Research Institute in 2017. He published a number of books on Finance and AI.

Global Deputy Chief Technology Officer with over 22 years plus of experience in Strategy formation, Short and Long term goals planning, Application development, Implementation, Stakeholder Management, product development and Business management

Leader in transforming digital banking, innovations introducer for customer centric journeys .

Excellent leader with exposure in conceptualizing and architecting very complex and big strategic transformation technical projects and influencing stakeholder views on acceptable investment.

Extensive experience in developing strategy and implementation plans, SOP for overall management, supervision and management of programs across domains and verticals

Extensive consulting experience with stakeholders, demonstrative effective relationship with them.

Shared focus with cross functional teams – business, horizontals, partners

Adept at handling day to day administrative activities in coordination with external and internal departments.

Strong communicator with ability to ensure execution of time bound deliverables.

Srinivasan Shanmuganathan is the Head of API Platforms & Development Portal from Enterprise Technology arm of Standard Chartered. Competent Financial Services Technologist working on a mission to build & grow StanChart API Ecosystem business.

Accomplished Integration specialist, he has a unique 15 years background in Financial Markets technology, Enterprise Messaging, Open Banking Ecosystem & API Platforms which provides his organisation with unique advantages. Leveraging the unique lessons he learned from the inside out – literally! - Shan made a seamless transition to the world of building API Platforms and Open Banking Implementation. He had a brief stint with Bloomberg Singapore managing FICC Integration business for APAC.

Shan holds an Engineering Degree from Anna University.

David has unique experience spanning the full trade lifecycle, execution to ledger. An experienced C-suite executive, David has significant exposure reporting to and working alongside CEOs and other C-suite focusing on strategic direction and operation of firms.

His geographic experience spans London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Moscow and Johannesburg having held senior executive positions in ask these locations. His experience spans established and emerging markets.

Currently based in Singapore he is looking at opportunities to work with businesses focused on growth and geographical expansion where his strategy and build experience can be leveraged.

Raj Solanki is an Executive Director with over 15 years’ experience shaping global strategies and delivering successful change. Raj’s current role at JPM sees him responsible for driving strategic and digital transformation across APAC Operations to facilitate new business, efficiency, scale and an improved client experience.

Prior to JPM, Raj worked at ABN Amro and Royal Bank of Scotland across London, New York and now Hong Kong where he’s been for the past 10 years. His roles spanned across Technology and the Business with focus solely on change the bank initiatives.

Raj holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and enjoys spending his free time travelling with his family and learning Mandarin.

Victor currently serves as a Senior Technology officer at the Bank Of Montreal (BMO). Servicing Global Capital Markets & Client Services Divisions; Victor and his team have accomplished the following since June of 2014:

• Implemented the global Client LifeCycle Management platform (Fenergo) for Capital Markets;
• Standardized customer data capture, enhanced regulatory and compliance controls and visibility over the Client On-Boarding process for North America & Europe.
• Reporting / reconciliation to support a broad range of regulatory processes (Volcker, IIROC, FATCA, DFA, CTR, etc.)
• Digitized the Legal Agreements Platform for Capital Markets
• Established eSignature solution for all of Compliance, Legal and Client Onboarding platforms.

Victor's recent focus has now shifted and he's become the Lead Solutions Architect and Supplier Manager for the firms' Capital Markets Client Data Strategy Program. The effort is targeted to complete in Oct '17.
The effort will merge various federated client customer "golden" sources onto one centralized platform, with the aim to "match & merge" customer information with trade detail and credit risk information. The effort will also provide greater line of sight to counterparty hierarchy, credit risk exposure, reduce operational risk & produce greater operating efficiencies of core client information. The bottom line business results will produce a vehicle where we can increase revenue generation through up-sell and cross-sell opportunities with clients.

In addition to the Client Data Strategy focus; Victor is also exploring and designing a CM "Big Data" Data Science solution. Various business use cases revolving around Data Discovery and Data Analytics has driven needs to implement the correct Hadoop/Big Data ecosystem model. The model needs to fully leverage or existing enterprise "Big Data" architecture but also help address current gaps. The main focus in this effort is to address scalable, "time to market" and performance while keeping "Total Cost of Ownership" at the lowest point possible.

Victor has a Computer Science & Math degree from the College of New Jersey; He possesses a PMP certification and also has obtained continued learning certificates from Columbia University and New York University.
 

Vidhya is a Senior leader driving business outcome with clear Data and Digital strategic direction who is a Winner of Analytics India Magazine Women In AI Leadership Awards 2021 & CXO BFSI Top 100 Women Achiever Award 2021.

She has hands-on problem solving experience at all levels of business. She adds value to the business through data analytics offerings and insightful advisory services using Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning.

She is adept in developing & leading top-performing teams with Data Scientists and Machine Learning experts to solve challenges by providing data-driven sustainable solutions through Big Data technologies and analytics storytelling.

Certified in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Deep Learning, Agile and Product Owner.

Her strengths include Strategic Planning & Forecasting, Business Intelligence, Develop & communicate compelling narratives, strong networking, communication & influencing skills, ability to build, shape, lead, inspire, coach & mentor high-energy teams.

Mr. Whitmell is the executive director in charge of PAG’s information technology infrastructure. Prior to joining PAG in July 2017, Mr. Whitmell spent twenty years as an IT professional with Macquarie Bank, most recently as head of enterprise technology and workplace for Asia, where he managed the end-to-end delivery of IT infrastructure services and operations across the region.

Mr. Whitmell has a diploma in financial markets from the University of New South Wales and Securities Institute of Australia and studied for his MBA at Monash Mt Eliza Business School with a focus on international business.

Eiichiro Yanagawa is a senior analyst with Celent’s Banking practice and is based in Tokyo.

Eiichiro's research focuses on IT strategy issues in the Japanese and Asian banking and financial industries. His recent research has included core banking systems, ATMs, and anti-money laundering technology, and focused on the technologies driving disruption in three areas: innovation, digital, and legacy and ecosystem transformation. Eiichiro's consulting experience includes development of bank IT strategies, thin client / desktop virtualization to support business continuity, evaluation of data centers for hosting core systems, and vendor selection of AML, risk management, and other technologies.

Eiichiro is widely quoted in the press, including Nikkei, Nikkei BP, ITmedia, The Japan Times, Bloomberg, SNL/ S&P Global, Gtnews, The Trade Asia, Asia Insurance Review, Asia Risk, and Asian Banking & Finance. He is a regular speaker, chairman, and panel moderator at the leading industry events in Japan and Asia.

Prior to joining Celent, Eiichiro was the Chief Manager of the Financial Global Solutions Division and the Regional Bank Financial Solutions Division at NEC Corporation in Tokyo. He was responsible for developing NEC’s core banking system, strategic marketing planning, and consulting on financial institution systems.

Prior to that, Eiichiro was the General Manager of the Financial Services Division at NEC Corporation of America in New York. In this role, he worked on the development of IT strategy and advised clients, mainly Japanese financial institutions, on outsourcing and selection of software packages.

Eiichiro earned his Bachelor of Economics from Shizuoka University and his MBA at Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Commerce and Management.

TK Yap is Group Chief Transformation Officer at CGS-CIMB Securities and will drive and accelerate its transformation in the areas of superior products, efficient technology, and effective scalability to maximize customer engagement.

He currently oversees the Group's digital solutions, technology infrastructure and solutions, operations and processes, electronic trading platforms, and program management office functions.

His 35 years in the securities industry has included roles in local and global firms, buy and sell sides, distribution and origination, as well as research and sales functions.

TK is an IBF Fellow and currently serves on its CMFAS Exam Board.

Simon Young is a FinTech and RegTech enthusiast. He joined DBS Bank Hong Kong as Head of Compliance in June 2021 where he leads effort to develop its RegTech roadmap in addition to many other compliance priorities.

Over the course of his 20+ years career, Simon has held a number of senior leadership positions in compliance and financial crime compliance across financial services and fintech industries in Hong Kong and Mainland China, including recently Chief Compliance Officer (Overseas) and Group Head of Financial Crime Risk Management of Ping An Group where he led efforts to develop and employ AI-empowered advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities to detect and monitor financial crime risk for the group covering 40 business lines and 210 million customers. Previously, he was Senior Director of Tencent Financial Technology and Alternative Chief Executive of WeChat Pay Hong Kong, Risk Management & Compliance Director of Octopus Cards Limited, etc. 

Simon holds MSc Information Systems Management and LLM International Corporate & Financial Law. He is a Board member of ACAMS Hong Kong Chapter, a Certified Fraud Examiner and a member of ACCA Greater Bay Area Advisory Board and Governance, Risk & Performance Global Forum.